We have hundreds of pictures of Albert at this point. Avert your gaze and scroll past if you wish to miss this cuteness. As Eva says, guinea pigs are born after they have been cute-ner-ized inside their momma's bellies. We all agree that Albert has definitely been cute-ner-ized!



Eva's self portrait with guinea pig.



Portrait of a wild guinea pig. Albert helping to uncover a carrot. He definitely smelled the carrot and came right over.

I took the kids to a clay class at a nearby homeschool resource center today and am so happy to say I was extremely pleased with the instructor. She was open and flexible and at the same time very grounded. Supportive, enthusiastic, knowledgeable. She had form and freedom. It is rare that we find a teacher who can maintain flexibility and stay open to kids' enthusiasm and still maintain her own center. If they are unable to stay centered, the looseness can turn into chaos. If they are too rigid, the inflexibility can be stifling. A mixture of both can create an amazing environment for creativity and learning. We'll see how the second class shapes up. Eva wants to continue regardless, I think, because she loves working with clay. Samuel has said he will keep going, albeit begrudgingly- still, I have never known him to take a class he didn't like. I have no doubt he will let me know if it isn't working out for him.

Last week we drove out to the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery and stopped at Multnomah Falls on the way back. This trip was part of my hey-the-weather-is-great-for-now-let's-check-everything-out-that-we-can-while-we-can kick. I am not on that kick so much right now because the former kick totally wore me out- that and the trip to Great Wolf Lodge- and now I am gearing up to take Eva in to the hospital tomorrow to have her teeth fixed under general anesthesia.



Samuel and I at the fish hatchery. The really big fish Herman- he is a 70 year old sturgeon who is 10 feet long! We have several photos and lots of video footage of this guy. He was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.



Eva wanted to document this very large ice cream cone!



And finally, one of the amazing garden spiders living in our front yard and honey bees in the baby cardoon that just started blooming!